Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $5.05-$5.17 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.08. Altria Group also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 5.050-5.170 EPS.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE MO traded down $0.16 on Friday, reaching $43.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,794,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,969,122. Altria Group has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $48.04. The stock has a market cap of $74.51 billion, a PE ratio of 9.08, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $42.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.47.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.18 EPS. Altria Group’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

Altria Group announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a buy rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a sell rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Company Profile

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; large cigars and pipe tobacco under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; oral nicotine pouches under the on! brand; and e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand.